American Made

eman1200

eman1200

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Bro do you even lift
let's say you had, like, a gazillion dollars like our very own @Radar Contact and were looking for a jet or turboprop. how much would 'American Made' come into play for you? maybe you narrowed it down to 2 planes, one checked a few more boxes you were looking for, but the other was 'Merican made. would you do the right thing? maybe you were looking for a 7 passenger plane....one plane was an 8 seater and another was a 6 seater but American Made, what would you do? I wonder what percentage of an American made plane is actually made in America or from parts made in the USA? why aren't American Made planes shoveling that fact down our throats? I'd expect them to. I would if I was in charge of marketing, that's fo sho.
 
Pfff...I can’t afford anything that burns kerosene and outside of the lottery, never will.

For the sake of dream world...I wouldn’t let patriotism get in the way of FU money purchases. If the best jet for me is a jungle jet, so be it. I’ll drive my Bugatti on the way to the airport. :)

PS. It would be the largest single pilot plane I can find. Don’t want to rely on anyone else.
 
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I would care more about mission capability and wouldn’t think twice about where it was made. If money was no object I’d probably get a Global.
 
It's a small factor for me - but the real reasons I am going with Cessna vs. Embraer is cockpit size (I'm 6'6" and don't fit in the P100 cockpit) and cost (the Mustang is a little cheaper than the P100). Eclipse is too unstable a company and the cabin is a bit small. If I ever get my hands on some real money, I'll get a CJ3+ for North America and a jet card for the transatlantic stuff.
 
It wouldn't. If I'm a gazillionaire I have homes in Spain, France and a private island. What could get me there? A G650, Global Express, BBJ. So, good chance I'd buy American. But that wouldn't be the deciding factor. Textron has a solid line of small to medium jets and with the New SE Tprop coming on line, Tprops to but no better than foreign rivals. If I had endless cash I'd go G650 for the long stuff, GIV for the medium stuff, and PC-12 for the short.

But if required to exercise my patriotic duty I could live with G650, GIV/Citation longitude, King Air 350. Then of course a sweet Carboncub to fly myself on the weekends.
 
'American Made' would carry some weight with me if it meant I didn't have to wait some indeterminate period for a faraway factory to produce some esoteric part that's putting a pause on the airplane's airworthiness.
 
Gazillion bucks? Why on earth would I choose one or the other? Buy one of each, that way you always have a spare or a loaner.
 
Depends what kind of money I come into, and how many "friends" I gain via said money. The list is already in my head though based on how much money I come into from most to least, and to my knowledge represents 4 nations.

Falcon 900, CJ3, PC12, TBM930 or whatever the hell number they're at now, M600, Meridian.
 
texasclouds said:
I’d get a DC-3 if I had a gazilliun. Also a Cessna 195, 180, 170, 140 all painted the same. And a Beech 18. And a Beaver. Probably an auto gyro as well. And an R-22.
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You forgot DC-4 and/or C-54.

Also, you need a C-130 to haul the race team to regional SCCA events.
 
American made is such a grey area anymore. I work for a major auto manufacturer that sounds like Yoda. We have 5 car plants in the U.S., 3 powertrain plants, and another service parts plant. Yeh, the company is from Japan originally, but those plants and all the tier suppliers that make parts for them are employed by Americans.
 
Captain Bubba said:
I would care more about mission capability and wouldn’t think twice about where it was made.
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Bingo. This subject would have never even crossed my mind in buying a jet or turboprop if eman hadn't brought it up.
 
Ya'll realize that something manufactured in Canada is also made in America, don't you? (the USA and Canada are both in North America)
 
Aviation is a global enterprise. I'd be concerned about the mission, and little else. Were there a US manufactured aircraft that met my needs better than a foreign one that's the one I'd acquire. Buying American is only the "right" thing when the American product is better. Otherwise American manufacturers have no impetus to improve.
 
eman1200 said:
let's say you had, like, a gazillion dollars like our very own @Radar Contact and were looking for a jet or turboprop. how much would 'American Made' come into play for you? maybe you narrowed it down to 2 planes, one checked a few more boxes you were looking for, but the other was 'Merican made. would you do the right thing? maybe you were looking for a 7 passenger plane....one plane was an 8 seater and another was a 6 seater but American Made, what would you do? I wonder what percentage of an American made plane is actually made in America or from parts made in the USA? why aren't American Made planes shoveling that fact down our throats? I'd expect them to. I would if I was in charge of marketing, that's fo sho.
Click to expand...

Personally I'd buy a Cessna product. After years of working first hand on American, French, Canadian, Brazilian, British, even Japanese, all turbines, Cessna still seems to build the most logical designs to me. Depending on mission Piper turboprops also high on the list.

If money were no object and I was planning on crossing enormous bodies of water, the French F900EX would be high on the list. These are probably their best seller and have been around for like 50 years now and still building them. If I had one, I would definitely need two... Big inspections take a long time.

The only aircraft I have ever seen with a wheelchair lift was an aftermarket rig installed in a Canadian 604 or 605 Challenger. I don't need one but accidents do happen.
 
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Yeah, I don't know enough about high end jets to know.

But I do know I'd buy the Mooney no matter what country it was made in.
 
After much more thought, I should probably do my American A&P a favor and buy a real maintenance hog so he can get rich too.
Capture.JPG
 
Todd82 said:
Depends what kind of money I come into, and how many "friends" I gain via said money. The list is already in my head though based on how much money I come into from most to least, and to my knowledge represents 4 nations.

Falcon 900, CJ3, PC12, TBM930 or whatever the hell number they're at now, M600, Meridian.
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Those Falcon 900's are definitely worth straying from American-made! Here's the cockpit of N460D, I was very impressed with the level of detail. However, I've only been in a G-IV, some KA90/120's, and smaller Falcons (2000LX).

rQPLOS7np4Qbx9COAdMORuabkAoenwFuRQ8FJ1RH_iVERQrR7wTn1_woDNjc37vmNCBq6AZLqzgf6uiTEVQfMM6m6VVP5yeLVaUSy-c2w3Eo-FBRaPC9w2LxZ-PPAtdLQ4AGGKAf2efcP1HfNKWBsECUyTmI1UOIKT3YUIJQADDUfz7EXKZ4naMM-QBJGN75_dGj3r9pPt-i1YOtNm3igrcAdn1G6tubM-LFnUVBqPgngrN90E3z8tkDXHWq8Rfbt9facPzbICS16dqVYMopeCGwSmI4fjukcCn9NBZDL6ukg7prPPbEnt8byFGw-p5bCZSWlQ3aiKpNshbOCwBOffimyjnsO9WB_oN-JMHYWmskShgvKaqOi6_Awpy0EUseJgqZtpAozFMktXYlMpf5YSAH_H_igGHcr66dKO5rgK-DIOSxenNNtPei8IOxqTWPMpE-yCRXpncrTM9MtZlAQy3K_OUL023PiQuGKNQsthuTd_BAkoKBlfr5RLB9MXp8GOg925wPP1p5jlNuXrT2hm-zEYUxj9c2MHX89wo0rq_Gvyy3KRyWG4-TTHhWKwmRyCeDY6eQzsOUD2Pad8dvgnYsfMpkfPhA0yA9rtQ1niTxAXQNlo4UA8Q9B2CcJls5E1EwOrJHQZFF93Cd3_sSJaU_AF_xXV_Ad6R6EFOJY6leD4tr8KEAtSPtwMJY4ehn1e4zxUeXeDONEHM4Rh9FJcBk=w793-h1057-no
 
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I’m not so worried about American made specifically, I do think generally US planes tend to be the best products but my plane was not designed or built in the US. That said, wouldn’t choose a new aircraft or engine from a Chinese owned company, right now that includes includes Cirrus, Diamond and Continental engines (also including their German produced Thielert derived engines). To me flying is about freedom, and China is not.
 
59db8ed41e148.image.jpg


What bag?...

The thread title roped me in, but for my mission, a straight 414 or a 421C would be the next step. Or just go all-in and get the Citation X.

But I would have to find that bag of cash first. Actually, lots of 'em.
 
If you bought a falcon, the avionics and engines would be american made. Those are the two most expensive items on the airplane, so a large percentage of your dollars will stay in the US.
 
Choices, in order:
1. Piaggio Avanti
2. MU-2 (short fuselage)
3. Commander 1000
4. King Air
 
write-stuff said:
Slightly off topic, but that image was shot in the old S&S Aviation hangar on the southside of KCNI, 30ish miles north of Atlanta. They have a fancy new set of hangars on the northside now.
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Was just at KCNI in Feb - the only have hangars on one side now - Maybe they tore the old ones down? Very nice folks and a great stop.
 
Pugs said:
Was just at KCNI in Feb - the only have hangars on one side now - Maybe they tore the old ones down? Very nice folks and a great stop.
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Yep, they tore down the hangar on the south side shortly after finishing filming of the movie. There was one scene where Tom Cruise was on the ramp and this old faded-primer-red 310 was behind him on the ramp. That was a long-time ramp queen there. Since then, I think it's been repainted with this paint job.
 
write-stuff said:
Yep, they tore down the hangar on the south side shortly after finishing filming of the movie. There was one scene where Tom Cruise was on the ramp and this old faded-primer-red 310 was behind him on the ramp. That was a long-time ramp queen there. Since then, I think it's been repainted with this paint job.
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That was still on the line! Hard to miss.
 
That hungry hungry eagle paint job belongs in the "if Harley Davidson made airplanes" thread :D
 
write-stuff said:
Yep, they tore down the hangar on the south side shortly after finishing filming of the movie. There was one scene where Tom Cruise was on the ramp and this old faded-primer-red 310 was behind him on the ramp. That was a long-time ramp queen there. Since then, I think it's been repainted with this paint job.
Click to expand...

That 310 was on the lower ramp(which isn’t there anymore) when I was teaching there in the early 2000’s. I would see a guy working on it on weekends, but never saw it fly. I guess he just finally gave up, and it’s been moved around the airport ever since.

As for the movie, my buddy Bob was the pilot with the snake around his neck. Unfortunately, we lost him recently. Cancer sucks!
 
My questions are if I have that much money to buy say a GIV, could I still wear epaulets while riding in the back, and if so, how many bars and stars could I have? Oh, and yah will the FBOs’ always roll out the red carpet for me and have a receiving line of no less than 10 people to greet me as I deplane? Are free massages included in the deal?
 
We live in a global economy. My "single pilot go fast" airplane would be a Pilatus PC24 (Swiss) with Williams engines (American) and Honeywell avionics (American).

My previous single pilot go fast airplane, before the PC24, was the Citation CJ4 (American) with the same Williams engines (American) and Rockwell Collins avionics (American)... But I liked it because of its long range, not because it was American.

The other option would be the Embraer Phenom 300 (Brazilian) with Pratt & Whitney Canada engines (Canadian subsidiary of an American company) and Garmin avionics (American).

I'm sure that even the CJ4 that seems purely American has plenty of foreign-built parts. Like I said, we live in a global economy, and no matter which of these planes I buy, plenty of my dollars will be going into the pockets of Americans.

Of course, I'm going to need some planes for other missions too... I'd want some backcountry and water capability. Maybe a C185 that's not going to employ anyone except maybe a broker. Going big on the water might be fun too, so maybe a Caravan on floats with a Blackhawk engine which would employ plenty of Americans and Canadians. And I'm probably going to want something I can turn upside down, which is likely to be an Extra 330LT. German, but again, American avionics and engine.

TL;DR: Who cares, if it flies? You're employing people in the aviation industry.
 
That kind of money, maybe a restored Concorde (restored by an american shop)
 
Dave Theisen said:
That 310 was on the lower ramp(which isn’t there anymore) when I was teaching there in the early 2000’s.
Click to expand...

I remember the lower ramp. After that, they moved it over to corner, behind the fuel farm on the north side. It lived there for a few years before migrating to the south ramp. I don't know if that eagle-painted 310 is the same airplane, but the paint looked somewhat new and it's parked in roughly the same spot as the primer-red 310 seen in the movie.
 
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